


Across the 'Verse

by Caerys



Category: Doctor Who (2005), Firefly
Genre: Action/Adventure, Adventure, Crossover, F/M, Fun, Gen, General, Hurt/Comfort
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-01-14
Updated: 2014-04-07
Packaged: 2018-01-08 16:51:41
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 7,284
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1135114
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Caerys/pseuds/Caerys
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Amy finds a gadget in an abandoned room in the Tardis that transports her to a world she's never been before.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> First time writing Doctor Who! This is a DW/FF crossover but the FF won't be for a couple of chapters.  
> Please review after reading, I really love to hear if/what people liked, and what my strengths and weaknesses are!
> 
> That being said, enjoy!  
> \-------------------------------

                Amy checked her watch for the millionth time and sighed.  Only an hour since the last time she’d checked.  Why was time moving so slowly?  Had all her adventures with the Doctor made her so impatient that she couldn’t spend a full day alone without going mad?

                She paced around her room, the one the Doctor had programmed especially for her.  It was a cross between her childhood bedroom and something that was more of a modern take on it.  The walls were a rich shade of burgundy, and it was so large that it was essentially a living room, bedroom and bathroom in one; practically an entire flat.  She was rather fond of this room, but at the moment it felt somewhat like a prison.  The Doctor had left her alone, taking River with him and claiming that they needed to do whatever it was they were going to do alone.  Amy had tried to protest, but the look that River had given her made her wonder what exactly they were going to be getting up to, and she’d thought better of her decision to tag along.  However they’d been gone for hours and she was itching for more adventure, dying to see something new again, some new planet god knows where in the universe.  The Doctor really had made her into an adrenaline junkie.  Though really it wasn’t hard to understand why;  after living in the slower-than-slow Leadworth, it was easy to get addicted to that rushing feeling of exhilaration that she’d never really felt until she’d starting travelling with the Doctor.

                Amy decided she’d rather go back to exploring the Tardis and began to do so, leaving her room and heading down the hallway to her left.  Even though she’d been with the Doctor for a while now, the Tardis never ceased to amaze her.  It was just so huge inside, with corridors leading every which way.  The swimming pool and the library were only the beginning.   She’d found a room that contained historical artifacts and fossils, some of creatures she’d never seen or heard of, which she’d assumed must have come from another planet.   Another room was full of spare parts with both advanced and archaic-looking technological devices, but she hadn’t a clue what any of them did.  She’d fiddled with a couple of the devices until one of them sparked loud and bright, startling her enough to abandon her attempts at figuring out what it did.  There were more rooms than she’d had time to explore, but everything was always interesting.

                 Today she walked for about five minutes down random hallways, trying to keep track of her turns so she wouldn’t get lost, and settled on a door that looked out of place;  it was mahogany and intricately carved, which stood out from the few plain doors that populated the rest of this hallway.  She tried the door and was pleased to find it unlocked.  Amy pushed her way inside, coughing as a particularly musty smell hit her, the air thick with dust.  Groping her way along the wall, she found a light switch and flicked it on, looking around as the light sputtered into life.

                 It looked like an old fashioned study;  there was a fireplace and a large, soft rug in front of it, with an antique desk, two antique chairs, and a typewriter on top of the desk.  Amy wondered if the Doctor had used this place as some kind of office, but the idea seemed rather ridiculous - she couldn’t picture him doing paperwork of any sort, let alone at an actual desk.   The room had been used as a storage one for a while now, anyway;  there were trunks and boxes all over the room, most of which were coated with dust.  Little poofs of it rose into the air as she walked across the rug and she coughed again, waving her hand in front of her face, clearing the air.

                 One trunk in particular caught her attention and she made her way over to it, moving a few boxes that had been stacked in front.   It looked like a pirate treasure chest, with wood planks and held together by strips of some kind of dark metal.  Amy tugged on the top, but it was locked.  With a little scoff, she pulled a bobby pin from her pocket and began to work at it, wiggling the little metal arms of the pin inside the lock until she heard a click.  Grinning, she turned the latch on the front and lifted the lid, suddenly excited, wondering what she would find. 

                 “Oh, clothes?” she said out loud, incredulous and disappointed.  How boring was that?  She sighed and rifled through the clothes anyway, hoping for something more exciting to be hidden farther down.  It was a big chest after all - maybe the clothes were just on top of something.  She pulled out a folded brown trenchcoat, a leather jacket, a few pairs of converse shoes and two suits, one brown, one blue.  She set the clothes aside without a thought and continued digging.  She found a few metal storage boxes at the bottom on one side and pulled them out, popping the first one open.    It contained a silver wrist watch, a tie, and something far more exciting; a time vortex manipulator on a leather strap.

                 Amy set the boxes down and took the object out, turning it over in her hands.  She was sure it was a manipulator;  the little screen looked just like the one River had.  Amy’s lips curled up in a smile as she pulled up the sleeve of her hoodie and began to put it on, curious how it would look on her.  She pulled the straps until it was snug on her wrist and then secured them, noting that it still felt a little loose at its tightest, but at least it wouldn’t be falling off.

                 Quickly, she dumped the clothes and other boxes back into the trunk and closed the lid, wanting to get out of the room.  She wanted to examine her find in better light, and the smell in the air was getting to her.  She swung the lid of the trunk closed, dust flying into her face as it fell into place with a loud thunk.  She tried to hold it in, but she sneezed rather hard, smacking the wrist that now wore the manipulator on the desk from the jolt to her body.   She sniffed and looked down as a light suddenly shone from her bumped wrist;  the manipulator was still operational!  She’d thought maybe it was broken, since it had been locked away in a box in some old room.  Grinning, Amy vacated the room and closed the door, rubbing her nose with her hand as she navigated her way back to her bedroom.  She stopped by the kitchen on the way since she was feeling a bit peckish, grabbing a couple of granola bars  and a bottle of water before heading on.

                 Halfway there, she decided she’d rather have a change of scenery and headed to the Tardis control room instead, flopping down on one of the leather seats there.  The console was half lit, humming gently, only running the regular life support systems and such.  It seemed far too quiet to her, after all the flying she’d done with the Doctor, but she shrugged and set to examining her find.

                 The screens were hard to decipher, and there weren’t a lot of full words on them.  She realized nearly everything had been shortened to either just abbreviations or some kind of code, and she frowned as she flipped through the settings, not really understanding what she was doing.  She avoided the button that she was sure was the one to press to actually activate it; she really wanted to push it, but she also didn’t want to end up getting eaten by a dinosaur or something if she’d programmed it wrong (and she most likely had).   She suspected it might not be working that well anyway, since the light from the display was rather dim, and the beeps coming from the device sounded warbled and weird, almost like the battery was low or the thing was malfunctioning.

                 Time passed, and Amy was just starting to grow bored with her new wrist strap when she heard the lock turning in the Tardis door.    Smiling, she looked up as River walked in looking rather beautiful in the long green silk dress she was wearing.  River saw her and smiled back with a little wave, heading up onto the deck of the console where Amy was sitting while the Doctor let himself in behind her, turning to lock the door as he entered.

                 “Hello Amy, did you miss us?”  River asked, setting herself down in a nearby chair just like the one Amy was sitting in.

                 “Oh, did you go somewhere?” Amy asked lightly, laughing.  She reached up to tuck her hair behind her ears, and River’s intelligent eyes found the wrist strap immediately.

                 “Where did you get that?”  River asked, a little frown creasing her brow.  The manipulator looked like hers, but she could tell it was older, the leather looked more worn and the display was slightly different.  Besides, she knew Amy wouldn’t go into her room and take it.

                 “Oh, I found it!” Amy said, grinning and pulling up her sleeve properly again to look at it.  “It was in an old trunk in a room near the library,” she told River.  “I reckon it’s not working very well, some of the buttons are hard to press and the light is dim.”  Amy demonstrated pressing several buttons, frowning down at it.

                 “Hm,” River made a thoughtful noise as she peered at it from her seat.  “Just be careful with it, that’s an older model as far as I can see.  It might have a different configuration than mine.”  
  
                “Still a rubbish way to time travel,” the Doctor put in, coming up onto the deck and walking around to the other side of console, where he began to fiddle with levers and buttons. 

                 “Not all of us can have our own Tardis, Sweetie,” River reminded him, with a shake of her head and an indulgent smile.  The Doctor grinned at her for a moment before going back to whatever he was doing, and Amy laughed.

                 “Why did you have this one stashed away in a trunk then, if you hate it so much?”  Amy asked, to which River tipped her head, thinking it a valid point.

                 “Oh, you travel as long as I have and things tend to start piling up,” the Doctor said dismissively, in a bored voice, waving his hand.  “I’ve probably got even more of those somewhere.  I’ve got loads of things hanging around in rooms that I haven’t even looked in since the last time the Tardis changed.”

                 “Well, I think this button is the one that makes it go,” Amy told River, pointing at the center button that she’d been avoiding.  River rose to come and take a closer look, as the Doctor scurried around, flipping levers and switches.

                 “Taking off!” he announced, and the familiar sound of the brakes being left on echoed through the room.  Amy was still pointing at the wrist strap when the Tardis jolted suddenly, throwing her off balance, and River toppled back into her seat.  In a moment that seemed to stretch forever, Amy realized her pointing finger and the rest of the hand with it had slammed into the interface of the vortex manipulator as she’d lurched sideways from the jolt, and she felt her heart clench in sudden dread.

                 “Oh god, how do I stop it?!” she cried, her eyes widening in horror as the screen lit up blue, a countdown from five suddenly displayed in front of her eyes.

                 “No, Amy!”  River gasped, leaping up and running towards her.  Without thinking, River reached out and put a hand on Amy’s arm, intending to try to rip the device off of her, but she knew a second too late that she would never have had the time.  Instead, as the manipulator finished its countdown and initialized, she was suddenly shooting through the vortex with Amy, her hand clenched in a death grip around the younger woman’s wrist.

                 The Doctor had looked up from his console just as River had leapt forward and his mouth fell open as they both disappeared in front of him.  He raced over to the chair that Amy had been sitting in and looked around wildly.

                 “Amy?!  River?!” He knew it was useless though, they were obviously gone.  He felt worry wash over him as he ran over to his console, staring at it as he tried to figure out how on earth he was going to find them, and hoping they’d still be in one piece if he did manage it;  there was no telling when and where they’d gone.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Amy and River land in a storm in the middle of the night with nothing but their own sense of direction to guide each of them, separately.

Amy materialized and landed on solid ground so suddenly it took her breath away. She momentarily thought she’d gone blind but she realized she was surrounded by dark. Gasping, she tried to cover her head as it sunk in that she must be outside in some kind of violent storm. A cold wind howled and wrapped around her as cold rain pelted her, drenching her hair and clothes in seconds. She gasped and ducked as lightning flashed above her and the thunder that followed was so loud and close that she nearly fell over in shock. Amy looked around desperately trying to see, but it was so dark that she couldn’t really make out anything. There was a faint, blurry light in the distance that she prayed was building or shelter of some kind she could huddle in.

In the confusion of travelling with a vortex manipulator for the first time, Amy didn’t even realize that River had come with her. She certainly couldn’t see the other woman in the darkness, and began to make her way forward, every step cautious. Amy wrapped her arms around herself, shivering already; she was drenched to the skin and the wind was not helping, being rather cold itself. She walked towards the light as fast as she dared, trying to tread carefully. She didn’t even know what kind of terrain she was on; for all she knew, there would be a cliff in front of her, just waiting for her step right off of it. As far as she could tell, she seemed to be walking half on grass and half on bare dirt, though presently it was all mud from the rain and making her trek even more dangerous as she slipped and slid on it.

Amy stared down at the manipulator as she walked, the little greyish green glow the only light she had. She pressed buttons, hoping to find some kind of return function, but nothing seemed to be working. It made a buzzing noise as she hit the button that should have made her travel again, and after a second the display faded and died completely. Amy swore, pulling her wet sleeve back over it. She didn’t know if it wasn’t working because it was sopping wet, or if the single travel had somehow fried it or completely depleted its power. 

She walked for what seemed like hours, stumbling along clumsily for the last bit. The light seemed to take impossibly long to get closer, though it could be just because she was freezing and scared. At one point she called out for the River and for the Doctor, knowing it was pointless but desperate all the same, wishing they would swoop in and rescue her just like always, like they had when they worked together to save her from the weeping angels. But she didn’t even know where she was right now- she was pretty sure there was no way they’d be able to trace her. The thought brought her to tears, and they slipped down her cheeks, cooling so quickly in the cold air that they were nearly indistinguishable from the rain still pouring over her.

Finally she was close enough to the light to see a little bit of her surroundings, but it still wasn’t much. Mostly she just found that she’d been right about the ground being mud and grass, and that the light itself looked like it was attached to some sort of wall. She stumbled over towards it, but she hit the ground faster than she’d thought was possible as her foot suddenly dipped into a hole in the mud, pitching her forward. Amy let out a shriek as she toppled forward, slicing her hand on a sharp rock as she tried to break her fall. Wincing and clutching her hand as pain throbbed through her palm, she forced herself upright and staggered on.

Shivering violently, Amy followed what she’d thought was a wall along its length. It was made of steel and seemed more like some kind of huge vehicle, maybe some kind of tank or ship. There was the light she’d been following, high above her head as she came to the end. She looked up and realized there was a long arm or some kind of roof stretching above her, which was too high to completely block the rain that was blowing at her, but it did help a bit. In the bit of light it was giving off, she could see that the structure beside her was very big, but she couldn’t really make out any kind of shape. She noted that there seemed to be two legs or pillars of some sort on either side of where she was standing, which reminded her of robotic dinosaur feet and toes, the way the bases had legs for structural strength. 

Amy tried to carry on along the opposite side, wanting to see if she could find a door of some sort, but she was so cold and exhausted now that she could barely keep herself upright. Shaking so hard she was almost falling over her own feet, she went right up against the structure and followed it just a little farther to the side, sinking down to the ground when she found a bit of an overhang. Amy curled herself up in a tight ball, trembling with cold and fear. She tried to stay awake, attempting to figure out what she was going to do, but the exhaustion eventually overtook her. Despite the fact that she was freezing, rain was still pouring and thunder was still crashing around her, she fell into sleep, her body going limp as she shut down.

River, meanwhile, had fallen away from Amy when they’d landed. She’d had a precarious grip in the first place, and the jolt of arriving, coupled with her feet hitting something very slippery, had knocked her completely off balance. She felt herself land in a puddle of something wet and thick, which she assumed was mud from the earthy smell of it, and just hoped it wasn’t anything nastier. She winced as she tried to push herself upwards, her hands slipping in the muck, making her fall into it again. Growling in frustration, she pushed up and peeled herself out of the mud, feeling it coat the entire side of her body including her bare shoulder and hair, and the whole backs of her legs where the dress had rode up. 

She squinted against the rain that was coming down in sheets, soaking every part of her that wasn’t covered in mud, making her wild hair slowly flatten to her head from the weight of the water. She stumbled forward blindly to where Amy had been, not realized the other woman had already started onwards. River cursed the fact that she was wearing a dress and not her usual pants with pockets and belts that held things. She almost always had a flashlight and various other implements that could be a help but it was no use; she didn’t have anything on her but a knife and her blaster gun that she’d slipped into a side compartment of her boots, which had still been appropriate on the date since the dress had covered them.

“Amy!” she yelled, facing in the direction that she thought Amy may have gone. There was a faint light in the distance and River thought that maybe she would have headed towards that. “AMY?” She stumbled forward in that direction, very quickly succumbing to violent shivering. Her dress was sleeveless and silk and the only part of her outfit that gave any sort of warmth or protection was her leather boots. Even they were starting get soaked through with the water though, since there was just so much of it and she shuddered as her feet started getting cold too.

“Amy!” she shouted every few minutes as she walked, stumbling along in a zig zagged line, her voice getting hoarse as she bravely trudged on through the torrential storm and darkness, her arms crossed over her chest as tight as she could, attempting to hold on to some iota of warmth. River kept resolutely plowing ahead, trying to ignore how cold and numb her limbs were, raindrops dripping into her eyes from her hair. She had slowed down considerably, starting to really feel the weakening of her muscles from the chill, when she walked right into something sharp..Retreating a couple of steps, she reached out with her hands and felt at what had stabbed her, realizing she must be touching some kind of tree. She broke off one of the needles and felt it, then brought it to her nose and sniffed; it was a pine tree. Edging closer, she felt her way under it, estimating that the space under the tree was about two feet from the bottom branches to the ground. Relieved to finally find shelter, River got to her knees and crawled underneath, wincing as the fallen needles under the tree poked into her palms. She shuffled in closer to the trunk until she couldn’t really feel the rain anymore and lay down with a heavy sigh. She would never find Amy in the dark, and she was afraid she’d shut down from the cold long before she reached the light. As it was she couldn’t really feel the skin on her arms or legs anymore. River lay there shivering as she worried about Amy, hoping the girl had found somewhere similar to take shelter. River rubbed both of her arms, trying to get some feeling back into them, but gave up as it didn’t seem to work. 

Accepting her fate and desperately hoping that Amy had somehow found shelter, she lay huddled there for a long time before she finally fell asleep, trying to plan how she was going to find the other woman as soon as it was light. River’s body relaxed and her head tipped forward, resting on the fallen pine needles as she drifted into an uncomfortable but deep sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please review! My first cross over story, so I'm really curious how people like it! :)


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The crew of Serenity find a lot more than the engine parts they'd gone planetside for.

Mal grumbled to himself as he walked down the corridor from his bunk, tucking in his shirt and pulling up the straps to his suspenders. He nodded wordlessly at Zoe as he passed, heading for the galley. He yawned as he found a mug and filled it with coffee, wishing he’d at least been able to sleep better last night. They’d had yet another run of bad luck and the lack of sleep wasn’t helping his disposition. 

First, something in the engine had broken. Kaylee insisted that she’d told him a month ago that it had needed replacing but he just couldn’t recall that. Regardless, it definitely needed replacing now. So they’d touched down here on Persephone, near the edge of a fair-sized city where the mechanic was sure she’d be able to locate the parts she needed. Just as they’d been about to venture out, the sky had gone black and the winds had picked up to the point where Mal had to admit it wasn’t safe to send Kaylee and Wash out on the mule, so they’d holed up for the night. However, none but the soundest sleepers of them all had even been able to rest; the freak storm had caused howling winds and hail that had pounded against the hull so loudly it sounded like someone was banging on his door all night. 

He drained most of his cup and tossed it in the sink before heading up to the bridge to see if Wash was there, wanting to ask him about bringing Kaylee into the city as soon as possible. Mal sighed when he saw the pilot was not in his seat but headed to the radio and flopped down, grabbing the thing and pressing the button.

“Jayne? Wash?” He waited, saying their names a couple more times into the radio before he got sleepy responses from both of them. “Go outside and make sure the hull’s not damaged from that hail. I doubt she’ll be hurt, but those things sounded huge when they hit. Better just to check. I’ll take the top.” Without waiting for answers but assuming he’d be obeyed, Mal pocketed a smaller radio and headed through the halls to a ladder and climbed his way up, opening the hatch to the top of the ship and climbed out.

He squinted into the bright, early morning sun, noting that at least there was no sign of rain or storm at all now. Everywhere he looked he saw evidence of the storm; huge puddles of water and mud in between grassy patches in the field that they’d parked beside. He could see trees half blown over from the wind, leaves and branches scattered everywhere like nature’s version of confetti. Shaking his head, he stepped onto the hull of the ship and began to walk around, careful not to slip on the wet metal, feeling the lack of friction even under his boots. He’d been at it about ten minutes and was nearly finished checking everything up top when he heard a beeping sound from his radio. Taking one last glance over the left turbine wing, he slipped the radio out of his pocket and pressed the button down.

“What?” he asked, releasing the button.

“Uh, Mal, you need ta come down here.” Jayne’s voice came through the radio, a bit crackly but mostly clear. Mal’s brows knit as he tried to read the man’s tone and wasn’t sure what to make of it.

“Why? Please tell me you didn’t find anything broken,” he said in a half-angry, half-pleading voice.

“Nah, but I sure did find something.” Jayne’s voice sounded both ominous and excited and Mal sighed, knowing that he wasn’t going to be able to drag details out of the man.

“Fine, I’ll be right down,” Mal said, pocketing the radio again and lowering himself down the ladder, shutting and tightly locking the latch behind him. He hurried his way through the ship, really hoping that this wasn’t something that was going to be a problem. He didn’t have time for problems right now.

“Mornin’ Cap’n!”

Mal turned as he heard a bright voice behind him and felt his lips curl into something of a smile, something that seemed to happen a lot when he saw Kaylee. Something about that girl was just so innocent and bright that he always felt compelled to be in a better mood around her, even when he was already grumpy.

“Mornin’ Kaylee, cheerful as always,” he said, tipping his head towards her.

“’Course!” she replied, flashing him a smile. “Nothing to be upset about today! I was gonna go make some of ‘Nara’s tea, d’you want any?” she asked him, gesturing towards the kitchen.

“No, meimei, thanks, but I already had coffee,” Mal said, trying to take his time but knowing he had to get down to the ground and see what Jayne was on about. “After your tea you get ready to go planetside, alright? Wash’ll take you wherever it is you need to go to get those parts soon as he finishes checking the ship with Jayne.” Kaylee beamed and nodded, turning and flouncing off down the hallway towards the dining area. Shaking his head, Mal continued down the corridor and hurried down the stairs in the cargo bay, then headed down the loading ramp that was already open and emerged outside. He squinted again in the sunlight and looked around, not seeing anyone.

“Jayne? Where are ya?” Mal asked into the radio after pulling it out of his pocket. He waited a moment, and was about to ask again when he heard Jane’s voice.

“Left side of the ship, just around the corner.”

“If this is a prank, Jayne, I swear to--” he began, but cut himself off. He was trying to work on his habit of threatening people first thing in the morning, since he seemed to do it without warrant a little too often.

Mal jogged towards the left side of the ship and called out as he turned the corner.

“Jayne? What’ve you found?” he asked, glancing around before realizing Jayne was down on one knee, examining something on the ground. Mal saw legs on the ground in front of Jayne, the rest of the body blocked by his, and bit back the urge to groan, hoping someone wasn’t dead under his ship.

“I found a girl, Mal…” Jayne said, turning to look at him, his voice laced with something like wonder at his luck. “She was under the edge of the ship just there, I pulled her out but she didn’t wake up.”

“You can’t keep her,” Mal said automatically, approaching the mercenary’s side for a better look. Frowning, he took in the sight of the unconscious woman, who looked to be about Kaylee’s age. She had long red hair and was clearly drenched through her clothes, splattered with mud over a good deal of her body. She looked deathly pale and after nudging Jayne aside with his leg, he knelt down and reached out, feeling for a pulse at the young woman’s neck. He frowned and pressed a little harder, finally feeling a slow and rather weak beat under his fingers.

“She alive?” Jayne asked hopefully, looking down at her wistfully. She was so pretty, Mal was sure Jayne would be disappointed if he didn’t get a chance to hit on her.

“Yep. Pick her up, let’s get her inside,” Mal decided, looking around. They were on the outskirts of town, there were no houses or buildings around here besides a couple of abandoned farms, so he figured this girl probably didn’t live anywhere nearby.

Jayne scooped up the red headed woman with surprisingly gentle hands and shifted her until she was secure in his arms, her head lolling and resting against his shoulder. She was light even in her soaking wet clothes, and he had no problem following Mal at a brisk pace back around to the cargo doors.

Mal was just about to order Jayne to bring the girl to the infirmary and find Simon, when his radio bleeped and Wash’s voice came through.

“Uh, Mal? Found something you might wanna see.”

“Oh God not you, too,” Mal said, exasperated. “Let me guess, you found a woman.”

“Um, yes, actually…” Wash’s voice came back over the radio, sounding surprised that Mal would have guessed such a thing. “What do you mean, ‘too’?” 

“Nothing,” Mal sighed, shaking his head. “Bring her to the infirmary and find Simon,” Mal instructed Jayne, who nodded and headed up the ramp with the woman. Mal headed towards the other side of the ship where he was pretty sure Wash was and came around the corner, expecting to see him carrying or kneeling beside a passed out woman. Instead, he saw his pilot carefully leading along a woman that was as wet and even more mud-drenched than the other woman, but at least conscious, even if she was dragging her feet and staggering.

“Woah, hey, are you okay?” Mal asked, hurrying forward as the woman stumbled, nearly falling. Mal caught her arms as she fell and held her steady for a moment before she pushed herself upright on the side of the ship.

“Amy,” she said, her voice hoarse, with an accent that Mal didn’t immediately recognize. “I’m looking for Amy. Red hair, pale skin,” the woman trailed off, obviously trying to think about what the girl had been wearing, going quiet for a moment while she tried to remember.

“She’s been asking about that girl since I found her,” Wash said helplessly, shrugging at Mal. 

“It’s alright, we found your friend,” Mal told the woman, ignoring Wash’s surprised and then comprehending look as the man clearly figured out why Mal had asked about a woman on the radio. 

“You did? Oh thank goodness,” the woman said in that strange accent, visibly sagging with relief. Mal held her more steadily by one arm as Wash kept one hand on her back. Mal gave her a brief glimpse up and down and wondered how on earth she and her friend (who were dressed so differently), had ended up here in the middle of nowhere in the middle of the storm. The woman in front of him was about Inara’s height and he suspected the dress she was wearing (if it had been clean) would have been something that the companion would wear. The similarities stopped there, however; this woman had very curly blonde hair, greenish brown eyes and fair skin, though not nearly as fair as the other woman they’d found. She also had dark bags under her eyes, her skin was quite cold to the touch, and she was visibly shivering in her wet and muddy gown. Deciding this moment was probably not a good time to grill her for information, Mal figured he’d be polite.

“I’m Captain Malcolm Reynolds, this here’s my ship, Serenity,” he said, affectionately patting the side of the hull. “This is Wash, my pilot,” he told her, nodding his head at the man, who smiled and waved though he was standing two feet away. “What’s your name?”

“I’m River,” she said, her voice weak with what was clearly exhaustion. Despite this, there was still a glint in her eyes, a hint of something that Mal couldn’t quite place, perhaps mischievousness or humor. “River Song.”

“Another River,” Mal commented, as Wash’s eyebrows rose again and the two men glanced at each other. River looked puzzled at this and seemed about to ask what he meant, but Mal shook his head.

“Not important. Come on, let’s get you inside and warmed up,” Mal said, his voice about as gentle as it could get considering what was going on. 

“You’re too kind,” she shivered, but made no protest and followed them inside, Wash’s hand on her back to guide her, ready to catch her if she started to fall. As they entered the ship, Mal broke off and punched the comm on the wall.

“Kaylee, I need you to go and help Simon in the infirmary. Inara, I need you down in the cargo bay. Bring blankets.” He barked into the comm, expecting them to know his no-nonsense voice. He went back over as Wash guided River to a nearby bench and got her to sit down. 

“Wash, go see how the other woman is. I told Jayne to take her to the infirmary.” Mal told the pilot, who nodded and smiled at River before turning and quickly disappearing through the door at the other side of the cargo bay.

“Who’s this?” asked a feminine voice from above.

Mal looked up to see Inara coming down the stairs from her shuttle, two large fluffy blankets draped over her arm. Mal watched the companion descend to their level and gave her a half-hearted smile before glancing at the woman.

“Inara, this is River Song. River, this is Inara,” Mal said briefly, gesturing between them.

“River?” said Inara softly, her lips curling at the coincidence. She held her hand out gracefully to the woman, who took her hand and shook it with a firm grip, despite being obviously physically unwell. “Oh my, you are freezing,” Inara said with concern, dropping one of the blankets onto the bench beside the woman and spreading the other one out, draping it around her shoulders, ignoring the mud splattered on the woman’s bare shoulders, neck and hair. 

River shuddered and pulled the thick, warm material around her, feeling it start to help almost instantly. She tucked it around herself as tightly as she could, just allowing the start of the warmth to seep into her for a few moments, until her shivers finally lessened.

“Thank you,” she said to Inara, and looked at Mal, meaning thanks to him as well. “Can I please see Amy now?”

\----

Meanwhile, Jayne had carefully carried the young woman through the ship, taking great care not to bump her feet or legs on any doorways. The infirmary was empty but he forced the door open with his foot and managed to hit the switch with his shoulder, flooding the infirmary with slightly blue-tinged light. He set the woman gently down on the examine bed and was about to leave to go and look for Simon when the young doctor appeared in the doorway, looking confused.

“Oh, good, was just gonna look for ya,” Jayne said, leaning back against the counter nearest him. “Found her outside curled up under the ship, soaking wet. Guessin’ she got stuck in the storm last night.” He said, watching Simon hurry forward and pull a pair of gloves from a slot in the wall and put them on as he moved, a seamless action that told of the countless times he’d done the same thing before. Simon reached the bed and turned the girl’s head gently towards him, looking over her face as Jayne reached out and adjusted the light above the bed so Simon could see.

Simon could feel the chill of her skin through his gloves and his eyebrows furrowed, settling his fingers over the radial pulse point on her wrist, counting in his head. He frowned at how slow and weak it was and noted that her lips looked just a hint bluish, which was bad news.

“She’s hypothermic,” Simon said out loud, reaching for a thermometer. “I need blankets, get me some, please,” he told Jayne, who for once did like Simon asked him and went into the common area to retrieve some from a closet nearby. Simon turned the thermometer on and slipped it into the woman’s mouth, then hurried over to the fluid warmer machine he had in the corner of the infirmary counter, out of the way of everything else. He settled a bag of saline onto it and turned it on, then turned back to the woman as he heard the thermometer beep. He swore softly as he saw the number, tossing the thermometer aside as Jayne re-entered the infirmary, his arms full of blankets. Kaylee entered a few seconds later and looked around, taking in what she was seeing.

“What’s going on?” she asked curiously, looking down at the strange young woman lying on the bed. “Who is that?”

“Dunno, we found her outside, passed out,” Jayne supplied, shrugging. “Doc says she’s hype- hypa-” Jayne paused, looking confused, then shrugged again . “Well he’ll tell ya.” Simon shook his head and turned to Kaylee, smiling at her briefly before instructing.

“Kaylee, can you please take those blankets from Jayne and cover her with them?” Simon asked her, smiling again as she nodded.

“Of course!” she agreed easily, taking the blankets and putting them down, then opening them up one by one.

“Oh, and keep one of her arms out, I need to start an IV,” Simon instructed, just as Kaylee was covering her with the first blanket. 

“Will do,” Kaylee replied, picking up the woman’s arm and gently lifting it over her head so it would be out of the way as she covered her. “Oh, she’s so cold,” said Kaylee said, her eyebrows knit in sympathy. “Poor thing.”

Simon nodded his agreement but continued setting up the IV without looking up, concentrating on his work. He could see Kaylee covering the woman with four moderately thick blankets and he finished up with what he was doing just as she gently placed the woman’s arm back down at her side, now on top of the blankets.

“Thank you, Kaylee,” he said, giving her a smile. She beamed back at him.

“Anything else I can do?” she asked, eager to help.

“Not right now,” Simon said, shaking his head. “But you’re free to stay and keep her company. And me.” He added the last bit rather awkwardly, but was rewarded with a knowing smile from the mechanic.

“I wonder what her name is,” Kaylee pondered, pulling herself up onto the nearby ledge, as Jayne leaned against the doorway. “She has a necklace on with an ‘A’,” she said thoughtfully, having noticed the necklace when she’d been covering the woman.

“It’s Amy,” said Wash’s voice from behind them, making Jayne whirl around, hand on his gun. “Her name is Amy. And chill, big guy, just me,” Wash said with a roll of his eyes, his hands held halfway up in mock surrender. He entered the infirmary and watched Simon retrieve the bag of saline, now sufficiently warmed, and hook it to the pole beside the bed, quickly attaching the IV line. “How is she doing?” Wash asked, glancing at the woman. All he could see was her pale face and red hair, the rest of her disappearing under several blankets.

“She’s hypothermic,” Simon said again, not looking up as he carefully pulled back her sleeve. Thankfully her shirt was plenty baggy enough that he could do so without cutting it and he pushed it up to her bicep, cleaning a small spot on her forearm with a swab before swiftly and carefully inserting the IV catheter. In seconds he’d drawn a bit of blood into the line to make sure he’d hit a vein, then changed the flow so it was going into her. He adjusted the flow and within moments the IV was set, steadily dripping warmed saline into her body, which would warm her core much faster than blankets and other external methods could.

“It’s quite bad, hovering somewhere in the early stages of severe, but she’ll be alright,” Simon said, slipping his gloves off and tossing them into a bin nearby. He wanted to set up some electrodes on her chest to monitor her vitals, but he wanted her to warm up some before he exposed her again to the cool air of the ship. 

“We found another woman as well,” Wash told Simon as the doctor took the woman’s pulse again, looking up in surprise. “I would bet she’s hypothermic too, though not as bad, since she’s awake and able to move around,” he explained. Simon nodded, but he didn’t want to leave his patient.

“Can you bring her down here? I don’t want to leave this wo-- Amy?” he said questioningly, making sure he’d gotten her name right. Wash nodded. “Right, I don’t want to leave Amy here, I need to monitor her.”

“Sure thing boss,” Wash agreed easily, turning around to leave.

“Don’t let Mal hear you calling me boss,” Simon called ruefully, shooting a small smile at Wash. Wash grinned and winked at him before disappearing up the stairs to go retrieve Simon’s other surprise patient of the day.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Not my first Firefly fic, but my first crossover! Let me know what you think!


End file.
